The Australian Labor Party is pushing for a complete ban on online gambling advertisements within three years. That’s just one of the recommendations contained in a provocative report on the subject they produced titled “You win some, you lose more”.
Gambling, and gambling advertisements, have been a hot-button issue in Australia for many years and this recent report is just one battle in a much larger war. But anti-gambling activists have successfully used the gambling industry’s tendency to saturate media markets with advertising until viewers experience overload to crack down on the business.
The proposed online gambling advertising ban would be a phased-in affair over the course of three years. During the first phase, all advertising during school drop-off and pick-up times would be banned. The second phase snares bans online ads of all forms during sports broadcasts and uniform sponsorships. The third, and final, phase would ban adds between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. before the blanket bans is implemented. The idea behind the tiered ban is to give operators an opportunity to adjust their media plans.
In comments reported on by the Guardian, Labor MP Peta Murphy talked through the argument for the ban saying, “Gambling advertising and simulated gambling through video games is grooming children and young people to gamble and encourages riskier behaviour. The torrent of advertising is inescapable. It is manipulating an impressionable and vulnerable audience to gamble online.”
At this point, the recommendations are just that and no formal debate on legislation regarding a full online gambling advertising ban has taken place.